Chief Learning Officer - July 2008 - (Page 36)

are emerging ways to customize teaching and training in the corporate environment through the use of computer-based learning. In particular, the creation of a user network, in which employees create content and others consume it, has the potential to revolutionize learning. As we explain below, corporations are potentially far more likely places for this to take root than public schools. Is it far-fetched to think that employees not trained in teaching could effectively create usable content for learning? One of the most exciting ﬁndings in education is that people often learn better when they teach than when they listen to a teacher. Consider the following anecdote. “Dan” studied accounting at a junior college in the western United States. Through intense effort he graduated with mediocre grades and somehow got himself admitted, on probation, to a nearby four-year university where he planned to ﬁnish the ﬁnal two years of upperdivision courses required to earn a bachelor’s degree in accounting. Despite working hard, after his ﬁrst semester at the university, Dan had logged a gradepoint average of 1.5. His academic adviser called him into his ofﬁce and asked, “What does your father do for a living?” “He’s a rancher,” Dan replied. “I think you should go home and work with your father,” the adviser said. “You’re just not cut out for university work. I’ve seen a lot of students just like you, and you’ll be a lot happier if you do something you’re good at.” Dan replied that he wasn’t dumb. He wanted to pursue a career in business. “You just watch me,” he countered the adviser. “I’m going to do well, and I’m going to graduate!” Dan redoubled his efforts. By working 80 hours each week at his accounting homework, he graduated and remarkably got himself admitted to the university’s master’s in accountancy program, again on probation. Through extraordinary effort and willpower, Dan earned his master’s degree. A few weeks after he graduated, an accountancy instructor at the junior college Dan had attended became ill unexpectedly. While they were exploring whether there was anyone else in that small community qualiﬁed to step in to teach his courses, one of the faculty said someone told him Dan had earned his master’s degree. “Maybe he’d come home and teach for us, at least for a year, until we can ﬁnd someone else,” he said. With no other options, the faculty agreed, and Dan accepted the offer. Dan said that as he began to teach accounting, “All of a sudden, I understood it! I had grunted through all those years as a student by sheer guts and willpower, memorizing all the rules. But I never understood why we had to do all of those things. As soon as I had to prepare for class and teach it, I understood it!” There is a language to explain what happened to Dan. His brain was wired to learn in a way that didn’t match the standard approach by which accounting was taught. While many of Dan’s fellow students digested the rules and the reasons quite naturally, Dan struggled because his brain just didn’t work that way. But when he had to teach the same material, the only way he could do it was to format the rules of accounting in a way that was consistent with his intelligence type. When Dan had to teach the material, he was ﬁnally able to learn it well. http://www.thetrainingassociates.com http://www.thetrainingassociates.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Chief Learning Officer - July 2008

Chief Learning Officer - July 2008 Contents Imperatives Selling Up, Selling Down Strategies Take Five A Customer-Driven Approach to Molding Tomorrow’s Leaders The Home Depot: Accelerated Leadership CLO Profile Birth of a Salesman: Selling Learning to Solve Business Issues Selling Learning’s Potential at Siemens Transform Corporate Learning With a User Network Wiki Training Increases Productivity for RMC Vanguard Mortgage Lessons From the Feds: Mapping Learning to Strategic Initiatives Department of Labor Centralizes Content Synchronous and Asynchronous: What’s in a Name? Coping With Cultural Barriers to E-Learning The Manager’s Responsibility for Employee Learning Case Study Business Intelligence In Conclusion

Chief Learning Officer - July 2008

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